Friday, December 7, 2012

Friday Flim Flam: : Gloria Crest

The mega-mansion obsessed folks over at Homes of the Rich
reported on the wildly opulent and fantastically pedigreed Gloria Crest
Estate in Englewood, NJ that just popped up for sale with a $39,000,000
price tag. The 24,000 square foot Italianate villa was originally
built in 1926, according to listing information, for the heir to the Polish throne.
It
was later purchased by Joseph Kennedy—that would be the father of
Joseph P., Jr, John F., Rose, Kathleen, Eunice, Patricia, Robert F.,
Jean and Edward M.—as a gift for his then mistress and current namesake
Gloria Swanson. There are rumors Mister Kennedy somehow paid for the
property with Miz Swanson's money but we can't speak on that.

The
lavish, five acre estate is currently owned by Edward Turen, the
Chairman and CEO of Control Equity Group and the father of young and
well-connected Tinseltown producer Kevin Turen who was married on the grounds with groomsman like Zac Efron, Harry Morton and Will Kopelman who otherwise known as Drew Barrymore's hubby and baby daddy.

If you look for it on Google Earth you can see that it is very out of place in its surroundings. It does have a high wall shielding it from the road but the houses across the street and in the vicinity, although perfectly nice, are far from being mansions. Why would anyone pay a big price for such a location?

The word I'd use to describe the style of the place was coined by someone smarter than me in reference to Mrs Gardner's pile in the Fenway: Italianette.

I can't for the life of me understand why people in the 1920s built these "Spanish" and "Italian" piles anywhere but California and Florida; they're completely out of place, both stylistically and practically.

great old place; i love the italianate style. fwiw Italy reaches from the southern end in the Med all the way north up to the Alps and borders Switzerland etc. northern italy gets cold and winter weather .

Dear MAMA

will you please do a Post on that French chateau owned by the russian oligarch that got 'accidentally' and completely bulldozed and eradicated??